According to THR Anne Hathaway is in talks to play the female lead in Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalypse, a return to sci-fi for the director which is set in the near future and focuses on “a global war between man and machine”.

Chris Hemsworth (Thor) is in talks to play the male lead, and while nothing is official at the moment, it’s looking like both Hemsworth and Hathaway will join.

Here’s a detailed synopsis of the novel by Daniel H. Wilson:

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication.

In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans—a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire—but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late. When the Robot War ignites—at a moment known later as Zero Hour—humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united…

THR also confirms that Tom Rothman, who will depart his role as chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment in early 2013, will produce. Rothman said Robopocalypse “is the kind of important epic entertainment, a big movie with big ideas, that Steven does better than any filmmaker on earth. I am honored beyond measure that he asked for my help on it and fired up to do whatever I can for him”.

DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox are teaming up to produce the film, with Disney handling US distribution and Fox releasing the movie overseas. An April 25, 2014 release date has been set, so expect more on this over the upcoming months.

Read more at http://filmonic.com/anne-hathaway-may-join-steven-spielbergs-robopocalypse#DHy8vkQ4lKwit5Fz.99